


the daisy show!

by lonelyheartsclub_com



Category: Murder Most Unladylike Series - Robin Stevens, The Truman Show (1998)
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M, leanna and i are doing god's work.....
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-14
Updated: 2021-01-14
Packaged: 2021-03-18 10:09:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,485
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28741530
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lonelyheartsclub_com/pseuds/lonelyheartsclub_com
Summary: daisy wells is the lead star of the legendary daisy show. the issue? she doesn't know she's on it.
Relationships: Alexander Arcady/Hazel Wong, Amina El Maghrabi/Daisy Wells, Bertie Wells & Daisy Wells, Daisy Wells & Hazel Wong, Harold Mukherjee/Bertie Wells, Katherine "Kitty" Freebody/Rebecca "Beanie" Martineau
Comments: 3
Kudos: 13





	1. television heaven

Daisy sat up, running her hands through her hair. Today was such a beautiful day, like always, and the sun shined down on her through her window. 

"Daisy! Get up! You shouldn't want to be late for work now, should you?" Hazel Wong said, peeking her head through the door. Hazel Wong was Daisy's best friend. She smiled, but Daisy noted that she did that odd thing where she faltered, as if she were guilty.

Daisy didn't quite know what it was about people, but it felt as if they were all in on one big joke and they all secretly laughed at her day after day. 

But, nonetheless, after prepping herself for her day and grabbing her briefcase, she stepped out the door. Her usual neighbours greeted her. 

"Mornin', Daisy!" Kitty Freebody-Martineau shouted, her wife Beanie Martineau- Freebody waving amicably behind her. Daisy grinned and waved back. She turned to her left to see her brother, Bertie Wells-Mukherjee, and his husband, Harold Mukherjee-Wells, both out gardening and soaking up the 10AM sun. 

She waved at her brother, who tipped his hat to her with an ecstatic grin on his face.

Daisy Wells' life was perfect. 

She lived in the most picture perfect suburban neighbourhood, with the nicest job and wonderful friends who cared for her and wouldn't dare lie to her. It was all perfect, and she couldn't have been more thankful.

She greeted her boss and put his coffee down on his desk, gritting her teeth silently as he picked at a particularly unflattering scab. 

Some aspects of her life were not so perfect. She sat at her desk, pulling the photo out. The photo of Amina with a wide grin on her face, wearing a black dress and tights. Daisy looked at the photo every day. 

The truth is, Daisy wanted to travel. She wanted to feel the sand and sun on her skin and the ice in her veins, and the city lights blinking back on her. She wanted to experience a world that didn't have the bitter feeling of being calculated and scripted, and she wanted to be able to deduce without relying on her knowledge of routines. She wanted to have life outside of vapid, meaningless conversation. 

She wanted something to feel real. 

Daisy swallowed and sat back at her desk, focusing on the photo of Amina more carefully. 

_A 16 year old Daisy attended a prestigious school named Deepdean, which was a perfect school with perfect students and perfect uniforms._

_But Amina Yara El Maghrabi was not perfect, and that was what drew her in. Amina made her dream, made her imagine the world beyond the confined space that Daisy Wells liked to call home. She was strange, really, always disappearing, curly hair flying wildly about the place and always ignoring Daisy. But she decided she'd do whatever it took to strike up a friendship with her. Daisy was always seen as determined, really, but Amina brought out a different side of her._

_"Amina, wait!" Daisy shouted, still panting hard from running after Amina. The girl was long legged and elegant in the way she walked, so much so that she made Daisy look a right fool. She turned to face Daisy after looking around sceptically, as if she were doing something forbidden._

_"What do you want, Daisy Wells?" she whispered harshly._

_Daisy swallowed meekly, her words getting caught in her throat. She had never seen Amina up close, never seen how pretty she really was. Her light brown skin was illuminated by the mid-July sun, and she seemed to glow, and her brown eyes caught the light too, shimmering up at Daisy._

_"To be your friend."_

_Amina frowned, as if Daisy had called her something, or insulted her. She shook her head, her curly masses of dark hair flying around the place._

_"I'm afraid that's not allowed. Go back to Hazel Wong and Kitty Freebody, Wells."_

_"But...I don't want them! I want you." Daisy didn't quite like how she phrased that. She loved Hazel, and she loved Kitty, but they lacked the touch that Amina had._

_She turned to go, and Daisy reached for her hand and took it. She hesitated for a moment before turning back._

_"Spend the day with me, Amina. And if you really hate it, and you hate me, we can go back to ignoring each other. But give me a chance."_

_Amina thought for a moment, and Daisy ran her thumb across Amina's knuckles._

_"Maybe some other time, Wells. I...have the feeling we're being watched." and she withdrew her hand from Daisy's. Daisy was so close, but yet so far. She wanted to curse, and scream and cry, because she had gotten a glimpse of heaven and been banished back down to hell all in one moment._

_Over time, it worked. Amina cracked._

_"Fine, Wells, I'll spend the day with you."_

_They spent the day in the school library, thumbing through Shakespeare books and poetry essays, whispering low in each others ears, laughing to dumb jokes and disturbing lines in George Orwell's 1984._

_Daisy wanted to kiss Amina._

_It was the first time she'd ever thought about someone romantically. She paused on a line in 1984, and she suddenly felt sick. Amina put her hand on Daisy's and looked over at her in concern._

_"It's all a lie, isn't it?" she blurted out, fear creeping though her body, thoughts of her entire life being a set up play of sorts running through her head. Maybe Hazel was an actress and didn't give a fuck about Daisy, maybe-_

_"How'd you know, Daisy?"_

_Daisy's eyes widened. It was all a lie, it was all fake, she was right, her suspicions were correct, it was all falsity._

_"I'm joking!" Amina said, but Daisy could hear the underlying fear in her voice. Daisy shook her head._

_She kissed Amina on the cheek, and she ran out of the library._

_She ran up to her dorm room, and she threw all her clothes in her bag. There was a knock at the door, and Daisy had the urge to bar it, because she wanted to run. "Daisy, it's Amina! Open up! I'm sorry-"_

_The door swung open, and there was a look of pure terror on Amina's place._

_"I know we're being watched, but I don't care. Let's get away from Deepdean! Let's go to the beach, Daisy, just you and I!" she sounded hysterical, hands on Daisy's shoulders and her slight frame shaking with fear._

_"Amina-"_

_"Please? You don't understand- they're coming for me!"_

_Daisy's blood went cold. Who were "they?"_

_Nonetheless, she didn't question it, and soon enough she and Amina were out in Gloucestershire Town Centre, running through backwashed alleys and feeling the cold air on their skin. They laughed through stitches, and both of them were able to forget the fear coursing through both of their veins._

_The beach was a place Daisy had never been to. It was beautiful, the sand and the sea, clashing like two different forces._

_"Oh, wow." Daisy breathed._

_Amina wrapped an arm around her. "You're pretty, Daisy." she slurred, her hair falling into her eyes._

_"You're prettier than I am."_

_"Can I kiss you?" That edge of hysteria was back, and Daisy's hands seemed to tingle as Amina leaned in after she nodded. Amina could only ghost her lips for a moment before there was the noise of a car pulling up, and Amina backed away._

_"No, no, NO, DAISY, DON'T LET THEM-" Someone wrapped his arms around her slender waist, pulling her away from Daisy._

_"IT'S ALL A LIE! DON'T TRUST THEM, IT'S ALL SET UP! I LOVE YOU, DAIS-" she was shoved into the car, meanwhile Daisy was being held down. She screamed and cried as Amina was harshly driven away, whilst she was practically powerless._

_"Amina-" she sobbed, as the man let go of her. Hazel came running._

_"Daisy? Daisy, what happened?" Hazel asked, comfortingly wrapping her arms around her._

_Daisy dreaded forgetting what Amina looked like. It happened with everyone she had lost, and she didn't want to fully lose Amina. So she cut out the picture of Amina in their yearbook when they graduated, and she kept it with her._

Daisy held back tears as she thought about how she could've fucking saved Amina but she _didn't_ because she was weak. 

"Miss Wells? It's nearly 5, can you please turn in your spreadsheets?" 

Daisy smiled that perfect, million quid smile and held out the sheets to her boss. He nodded, complimented her technique as he always did, and she set out at 5 past to get herself some food, as per usual. 

Hazel met her at the restaurant, and she insisted they go to the supermarket. "Daisy, darling, have you heard about these absolutely _excellent_ chocolate covered bourbons I snatched for just 5 quid? Gosh, they're just incredible! You ought to try one!"

Daisy smiled her fake smile, and nodded along to everything Hazel said, because she loved her best friend and would always listen to her.

"Hazel? May I ask you something?" Hazel turned to face her, pulling the bean casserole out of the oven.

"Do you remember Amina El Maghrabi?" Daisy's heart thrummed in her chest, as she knew the answer that was coming. She could _see_ the cogs and gears ticking in Hazel's mind. 

"Who? Daisy, darlin', maybe you should get some rest-"

"She went to our school, remember? Hazel, tell me you remember, please!" But Hazel's bottomless eyes were simply coloured with concern. She pressed a warm tea towel against Daisy's head. 

"Go to sleep, Daisy. It'll do you good." Hazel said finally, calling her kids to come and get their food. Daisy walked out, and she walked up to the top of the stairs, listening in. 

_"Alex, love, she's starting to catch on. I love her...I know I shouldn't-"_

_"I care for her too, Hazel. It's alright."_

_"I hate lying to her," Hazel said, almost as if what her husband said didn't matter._

Hazel was lying to her? 

Daisy did what she did all those years ago. She packed all her stuff into a suitcase, including the photo of she and Hazel. She studied it close, and her heart dropped. 

Hazel's fingers were crossed. 

Daisy threw the photo against the wall, crying bitter tears of anguish and pure _anger._

She had been lied to, and she did not want to be lied to.

So she would go search for Amina. She got in her car, ignoring Hazel's shouts of, "Daisy, love, it's late! Where are you off to?"

She closed the car door, everything in her hands. And she started to drive. Drive until she realised she was going in circles, and she wasn't actually going anywhere. She got out of the car she had lost her patience with and crashed, and cried and cried until Hazel came running for her and she shouted for her to get away. 

Daisy Wells had been lied to. Her life was not perfect. Nor was it real.


	2. untangling the wires.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> amina is looking to overthrow the producers of the daisy show, and she needs to trust people that she's always hated.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw// death, shooting, captivity

Amina would be lying if she said she ever thought she'd be writing a letter to Hazel fucking Wong. Hazel was Daisy's so called _"best friend!"_ but she had let her be enslaved on behalf of The Daisy Show.

Yet, there she was, sat in the dim room, staring up at the photo of a promotional poster for the show whilst writing, Daisy beaming brightly with her hands on her waist. It was captioned, _"The Daisy Show! Live 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Don't miss it!"_

It was like they were taunting her by putting that poster up in the room she had been held captive in for several years.

She fiddled with her typewriter for a moment, before starting. 

_"Dear Hazel Wong,_

_I despise you. Utterly, and truly, through and through. But I need your help. You say you care for Daisy? Prove it. Help me overthrow the showrunners and save Daisy. Please. Come find me, and we can end the show. You and I both know how cruel and inhumane it all is._

_Signed, the one girl you pretended not to remember."_

The ending was rather melodramatic, but it would have to do. 

She turned on the television, and she could see Daisy's furrowed brow as she tried to figure something out. The camera panned to what she was doing, and Amina could see a picture of a girl that loosely looked like her, but not quite. Amina looked up at the screen, looked at Daisy's tear filled eyes, and she closed her eyes and hoped that Hazel would respond. 

It seems somebody must've been listening. Because there was a knock at her door one day and the showrunners threatened her. But then they let her go. There was somebody waiting for her, and her heart pounded as she suspected it to be Daisy.

But really, it was Hazel Wong. 

Amina did not think herself anything like Hazel. Hazel, who had a husband and 3 kids and the perfect suburban life. Amina didn't know if Alex and Hazel were actually in love, and she highly doubted it, but it was still cheesy whenever the camera panned to them kissing. 

"Amina El Maghrabi?" Hazel asked, and Amina nodded. "I'm Hazel Wong, but on the set I'm Hazel Arcady."

Hazel Wong was a short woman with straight, dark hair and monolids. She seemed to be uncomfortable, and it was probably due to the fact that she was in the grimy, real word, rather than that stupid idyllic set that Daisy called home. In the real world, there were not flowers and rose bushes at every turn, and the sun did not show itself every day, unlike the town of Bel - Air. The set was named after the LA province, and it made Amina angry, because it was far from heaven, since every single soul there was lying to Daisy. 

"So you and Alexander don't love each other?"

She hesitated, and Amina could tell that she was supposed to say no. 

"Anyways, how would you feel about being written into the show?"

"What, the show that enslaved poor Daisy Wells and made her what she is today? I'll pass."

"I can pull some strings for you to be written as her love interest." Hazel said simply, crossing her arms, probably to try sheltering herself from the cool breeze of the town the set was in. Amina's heart stopped and started erratically. That would mean she'd be able to kiss Daisy. She'd be able to get married to her, lest the showrunners could pull some strings too, and she'd be Daisy's and Daisy would be hers.

It was a good offer, but Amina was stronger than that.

"Only if we're working to bring the show down." Amina glowered, and Hazel put her hands up.

"You've got yourself a deal." Hazel agreed, and the shook on it. On their way back into the set, it was dark, but the sun had barely set in Bel - Air. Hazel walked on home, and she was a much faster walker than Amina herself.

A car pulled up behind her. She turned to see Alexander Arcady, a cigarette in his mouth and he was wearing a suit that was far too well cut. He narrowed his eyes at Amina and said in a tone far too chipper, "You a new extra or somethin'?" His strong Boston accent making Amina stifle a laugh. 

"I'm a new actress. I'm Daisy's new love interest, Amina El Maghrabi." she held her hand out, and Alex stepped out of the car and took it. "Hazel can tell you about me." He nodded, but she noticed his finger was still poised on a radio button.

"Wait a moment, aren't you that girl? The one showrunners took away?"

"It's a long story. Ask Hazel, she'll tell you." Amina persisted. Alex narrowed his heterochromic eyes. 

He knocked on the door, and Hazel had a smile on her face. "Alex, darling!" she flung her arms around his shoulders, and out ran his three kids, Yelena, Alexei and Ilya.

They all wrapped their arms around his midsection and Amina's heart swelled. 

Alex and Hazel really did love each other. It wasn't for the show. He kissed her on the lips, and she was grinning, and Amina remembered that she could see Daisy. 

But as she was making her way to 16 Paradiso Street, exactly where Daisy lived, she could hear something that sounded like an argument, coming from somebody that sounded like Hazel and another woman. 

_"Be careful, Hazel. You don't really trust the El Maghrabi girl. What, is this for more screen time or somethin'? If so, it's a pathetic plea." she said._

_"Kitty, of course I trust Amina. She loves Daisy more than anyone else on this set." Hazel responded,_

_"Yeah, because you lot are weak and actually care about her! She's not even really a person. She was born into this role, and she's playin' it, and some day she's gonna die!" Kitty hissed, and Amina wanted to slap her, whoever she was._

_"You don't mean that. I'm gonna go talk to Beanie, because it's late and I don't want to wake Ava up."_

_"Don't. Beanie's like the rest of yous, and she cares about Daisy too."_

_"Because she's a good person! I'm not saying that you aren't one, Kitty, cos I know you. But please, stop saying Daisy isn't a person. She is and you and I both know it."_

_"Hazel, darlin', you're like my sister because you married Alex and we've known each other for so long. But Daisy isn't real. She's a figment of what the public want to see in humankind."_

_"I can't continue this argument, Kitty. I'll see you tomorrow."_

And out strode Hazel, who had flushed red from stress. Amina ducked behind a rose bush, breathing heavy. She knocked on the door, and the look on Daisy's face was enough to make Amina cry. 

She looked shell-shocked. She swallowed hard, and her head tilted a little, and she whimpered, "Amina?"

Amina just nodded, and she let Daisy fall into her arms. 

The storyline was that Amina had bumped into Daisy at a cafe, and they caught up and Daisy had admitted she fell in love with Amina during their time at Deepdean. It was a pretty nonchalant storyline, but it was one that was partially true.

Amina had fallen for Daisy during their time at Deepdean, and Daisy had evidently fallen for Amina too. They were set to be married that spring, just in time for The Daisy Show's 29th season. 

Amina was under strict orders not to mess up, but during that whole time, she, Hazel, Alex, Beanie, Bertie, Henry, Alfred, Harold and Amanda had been planning the downfall of the Daisy Show. Amanda and Henry Trilling-Price were wives, and they were Bertie's best friends, along with Alfred Cheng. They had all hated the Daisy Show since they were kids, and they had the sense to get on the show to try and tear it down from the inside out.

They were getting closer, but there was a wrench in the gears.

"Help me, it's Kitty!" In rushed Beanie to their meeting place one day, Ava's hand in hers, and she was crying. "She snitched about our plans! They'll be here for us any minute if we don't get the fuck out of here!"

Amina's blood ran cold as the door slammed open. Hazel swore, and she then shouted, "The kids! Oh, Lord, Yelena, Alexei and Ilya-"

"They'll be fine, they take after you, Hazel! Alex shouts, jumping out of his chair and opening a window. One by one everyone shimmied through it, and someone came running. 

"Kitty!" Beanie shrieked, but Amina could hear the anger. She threw something at Kitty - a ring. "Fuck you! I never want to see you again, God, how could you?"

"It wasn't me. Somebody else leaked your plans." Kitty started, getting on her knees with tears in her eyes. 

"That's bullshit and you and I both know it!" Hazel said, butting in.

Black cars started pulling up, and Henry swallowed, running her hands through her dark hair. 

"They're going to kill us if we don't run! You too, Kitty. So we'll let you come with us." Henry said, pulling Kitty onto her feet.

The cars started driving towards them, and Amina had to dodge several bullets too. Soon enough, she could see her friends and Kitty being restrained, and they all cried out as one gun was fired, and that gun was fired at Hazel Wong. 

It was all Amina could do not to scream, because the girl she wasn't allowed to hate was clutching at her stomach, blood coming out of her mouth, a look of terror n her face as she fell back into Alex's arms.


End file.
